Search form

You are here

Candidate Community Forums

Request for Proposals from Community-Based Organizations

NYC Votes, the voter engagement initiative of the NYC Campaign Finance Board, seeks to partner with local nonpartisan community-based organizations to facilitate and host forums for candidates who are running for open City Council seats in the following districts:

City Council District 2 – Manhattan

City Council District 4 – Manhattan

City Council District 8 – Manhattan/Bronx

City Council District 13 – Bronx

City Council District 18 – Bronx

City Council District 41 – Brooklyn

City Council District 43 – Brooklyn

This is a nonpartisan voter engagement program we are conducting for the first time this year. We are very excited about this new opportunity to engage voters in communities throughout the city, and we appreciate your commitment and interest in working with us!

Lack of information is a barrier to voting in local elections. Before they cast a ballot, New Yorkers want to know more about the candidates and how city government can impact their lives. The goal of this program is to encourage neighborhood-based coalitions to provide accessible, informative, nonpartisan forums in which candidates can address the issues that matter to community members. For this pilot program, we are focusing our efforts in competitive, open-seat Council elections. We hope this program will increase voter interest in local elections and empower voters to make informed choices on Election Day.

Organizations will be selected based on their organizational capacity, demonstrated ability to conduct nonpartisan voter engagement activities, ability to meet the program requirements, and plan to attract a diverse group of community members for the event. The program requirements are listed in the application form, which can be found here. Organizations that are selected will receive a grant of $1,500 per event hosted.

The due date for applications has passed. Please see our release for more information.